Healthcare has become one of the fastest-growing sectors globally. The pandemic urged consumers to more aware of their health and they are are now consciously choosing healthy habits. Moreover, people are now exercising more and getting routine checkups done more frequently, which will eventually increase the demand for high-quality patient experiences.
Fortunately, South Africa also has a very active private healthcare sector. Patients also have the option to opt for public healthcare. But, around 79% of doctors in South Africa work privately in 200 hospitals across the country. At the same time, smaller clinics and healthcare businesses in South Africa fear the monopolization of services by big hospital chains.
Clinics, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities need to market their services and improve brand visibility to cater to many more patients. Generating high quality healthcare leads is crucial for these businesses! It’s the only way they can gain a larger market share in the competitive healthcare sector in South Africa.
Let’s simplify patient lead generation for healthcare businesses in South Africa. This guide has all the tips you need along with 12 healthcare websites that help you increase appointment bookings at your healthcare facility.
Generating Leads for Healthcare
To generate leads, you must have a website for your business. You also need to advertise on relevant websites and actively use social media to gather leads. Listing your business on aggregator websites should be a priority for healthcare businesses.
Make sure you pay for a position on these websites as they have invested a lot of time and money in establishing trust, which makes them a reliable source of leads. You can make multiple entries for each service you offer which gives you a clear idea of what the patient is looking for.
Websites for Lead Generation
Appointment Booking and Consultation
On consultation booking websites, patients search for healthcare service providers. In these cases, patients already have a specific need, and they are invested in finding the solution. Enrolling your healthcare organization on these websites opens up a new lead generation source.
If the websites allow search result advertising, you can also showcase your different services to patients. For instance, if someone is searching for doctors for a routine checkup, your advertisement can show the diagnostic test packages that they may find relevant.
1. RecoMed
RecoMed is the biggest and most rapidly expanding online healthcare booking platform in South Africa. Their mobile-friendly website helps patients instantly identify and book appointments with reputable healthcare providers, without making phone calls or filling out paperwork.
The platform provides medical practitioners with a tested strategy to expand their practices and enhance patient care. RecoMed connects more than a hundred thousand patients and over one thousand five hundred healthcare professionals each month.
Website: https://www.recomed.co.za/
2. AfriDoctor
AfriDoctor is a search engine for doctors. Patients can look up practitioners or hospitals by region. It allows simple appointment booking with automated text message reminders. It also securely stores all patient medical records.
Doctors and healthcare practitioners have nothing to worry about because Afridoctor offers an online medical appointment scheduling service and a personalized agenda. At present, AfriDoctor operates in Senegal, Mauritania, Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Madagascar, Benin, Uganda, Tanzania, Togo, and Cameroon.
Website: https://afridoctor.com/
3. Udok
In South Africa, Udok is a cutting-edge internet network that links patients and medical experts. Without an appointment, patients can log in from anywhere and speak with a licensed doctor on demand. It is safe and provides easily accessible medical advice.
Udok is a great way for healthcare businesses to run a hybrid–virtual and in-person—practice. With new patients entering the platform every single day, businesses find it easy to scale-up online. The platform ensures that their physicians are board-certified and registered with the South African Health Professions Council.
Website: https://udok.co.za/
4. My Appointment (myappointment.com.za)
My Appointment is an online service that allows businesses to take appointments from customers. Customers can easily make appointments, and the business owner can easily and professionally monitor and manage their bookings. This can be done either by using the website or by downloading the My Appointment Mobile App. The platform can also promote enlisted businesses, and they also include their booking feature in any already-existing website or Facebook page.
Website: https://www.myappointment.co.za/
5. Mycare SA (mycare-sa.co.za)
MyCare is an app-driven telemedicine and digital healthcare service. The company provides online healthcare services in Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town. Additionally, they provide services to patients, physicians, pharmacists, hospitals, and laboratories through a centralized platform that saves everyone time and expedites the delivery of high-quality services.
Hospitals, clinics, and qualified healthcare can register themselves on Mycare SA to create an online OPD. The best part for both the patients and the doctor is that the platform is entirely central across various medical conditions.
Website: https://www.mycareafrica.com/
6. MyHealth
MyHealth Africa, the winner of the Best Healthtech Company in Africa from the Global Startup Awards for 2022, enables the option to book in-person and online appointments with various healthcare providers. The business aims to build seamless patient journeys and improve access to Healthcare in Africa.
It’s a platform where you can grow your medical practice, improve brand awareness, and reach out to many more patients.
Website: https://myhealthafrica.com/
7. Medapp (medapp.co.za)
Medapp offers a free online booking service for healthcare professionals. Patients can perform a practitioner search and arrange an appointment. It is free, convenient, and always on hand. Medapp provides real-time calendar bookings, in contrast to many other online medical directories.
Growing businesses can leverage this free platform to get in touch with patients. Medapp also extends automated email and SMS reminders to make sure no appointments made on the platform are missed.
Website: https://www.medapp.co.za/
8. Medpages
Medpages is a database of over 531,701 records of healthcare businesses and doctors. The comprehensive data available is reliable and verified. Their free search is one of Africa’s most popular healthcare directories.
Medpages’ website provides marketing solutions and digital advertising opportunities for healthcare businesses as well.
Website: https://www.medpages.info/
9. Medical Directory
The Medical Directory shares medical news, hospital lists, contact details from healthcare practioners, and much more on their print and digital publications. The website also displays hospital reviews and allows appointment bookings.
With over 2,00,000 views on the website, Medical Directory also offers space for healthcare businesses to advertise their practices via banners and popups on their website.
Website: https://www.medicaldirectory.co.za/
10. EastView Family Health
EastView Family Health serves as a directory for patients to find healthcare institutions, practitioners, and services in Africa. By getting your healthcare business listed on this website, patients will be able to discover your hospital and its specialized teams.
The contact information and addresses are also available on the website for free for all the patients. The website space is also available for advertisements and promotional banners.
Website: https://deliverafya.org/
Informational Websites
Informational websites are a great way to find interested leads. People visit such websites to know more about a medical condition that they, or someone close to them, may have. You can partner with these websites to show banner advertisements, or even publish guest blogs.
11. MedicalBrief (medicalbrief.co.za)
MedicalBrief is Africa’s leading weekly medical news digest providing links to original research papers. It offers a concise summary of the most recent medical research, news, and policy developments. Weekly emails are used to share e-newsletter to subscribers, keeping readers up to date on the most recent research. MedicalBrief reaches more than 50000 subscribers weekly, and offers ad space on their website for you to capture patient leads.
Website: https://www.medicalbrief.co.za/
12. AllAfrica
AllAfrica is a multi-channel platform for comprehensive news across Africa. It focuses on multiple domains and areas of interests—Health, Business, Development, Sports, and much more. With over 1,458,646 pageviews, AllAfrica’s website is popular among their viewers.
Healthcare businesses can leverage the media toolkit to secure display units, promoted posts, and media coverage on the website. AllAfrica’s reach and reputation in Africa is unrivaled, which makes it a great source to increase brand awareness and generate leads.
Website: https://allafrica.com/health/
Leveraging a HIPAA-compliant CRM for lead capture
South Africa has numerous websites related to healthcare. And while these websites generate qualified leads, a few of them may also be expensive. You can’t leave these leads idle on your system, instead you need to ensure that they visit your facility for an appointment.
A Healthcare CRM can help you automate certain activities and reduce your response time towards patients who have scheduled an appointment. A CRM can automate your marketing initiatives towards patients who have shown interest in your business.
You can initiate meaningful and pertinent conversations with them via automatic Email and SMS responses, and track their responses too. Give LeadSquared’s HIPAA-compliant CRM a chance today to align your sales and marketing teams and improve patient enquiries to appointments conversions.
